Reviews

I bailed about half way through this one. I can forgive an error or two in a novel, but sometimes a lack of research really takes you out of the story. I forgave the first confusing foray into drug culture with the amateur meth lab techs. There was a lot there that just didn’t make sense.. the novel mentioned the characters learning “how to” online, and one can only wish the author did the same, and spent a little more time figuring out what the heck these characters would really be doing. There’s a lot of “these guys are terrible” followed later by talk of their skills to make “good” meth. It’s just all so twisted up. The characters just didn’t make sense.

The misuse of terminology for being under the influence in various ways continued throughout. And the cop who wanted to get wasted, but interchangeably with meth or weed? Weird. Sure, those are totally the same things.

The music descriptions, with genres getting used interchangeably that shouldn’t have been- again, research was needed. The rock and roll kid who was maybe supposed to be metal goth emo, like those are all the same thing.. that didn’t work.

The last straw here, what made me quit, was how off all the gratuitous sex scenes were. They were awkward.

I’m not an expert on any of the things this book got wrong, but there were just so many errors, I had to stop.

brian_garbage's review against another edition

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3.0

Not once have I ever heard anyone refer to ending a phone call as "cancelling" it.

bozzi1's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

4.25

Loved so much about this one. There were plenty of elements that reminded me of Salem’s Lot and IT, but Keisling still managed to tell a story all his own. The writing was really strong and I loved the characters.

jobis89's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

4.5

shawn_of_the_read's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

booksonawire's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This feels very Stephen King-ish with focus on an entire town, similar to Derry, with lots of swinging between town resident POVs. At the same time, it suffers from being a bit too long and the slurs pulled me out more than a few times. I'm a little more lenient for King since they were written in the 70s/80s, this was a 2020 release, so I just expect a little more from the author to make a character despicable.

It's length was also an issue, but by the end I was really enjoying it. The cult aspects were really good, some great body horror as well, and I'm curious about his other works.

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